Heads in beds

Source: Goliad Chamber of Commerce, City of Cuero, Advocate Staff Research

ROOM RATES

According to the five hotels earning the most hotel receipts, these are the rates for a double room during the weekday:

Candlewood Suites:$159

Hilton Garden Inn: $196*

Holiday Inn Express: $159

Homewood Suites:$159

La Quinta Inn:$124*

*Average of weekday rates

SOURCE: ADVOCATE RESEARCH, AS OF tHURSDAY. RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

There are more hotel rooms in Victoria for visitors to rest their heads.

LaRue Roth with the Victoria Conventions and Visitors Bureau said the number of available rooms has increased as three hotels opened last year and two opened this year, which has pushed some rates down.

She said the need for more rooms in the area has been driven by the oil and gas activity as workers from those fields rent out rooms throughout the week to supply the drill sites with workers.

"Eagle Ford Shale is the primary reason here in Victoria and throughout the region," she said. "The hotels are still seeing a lot of that business - and in addition all the other industrial business."

Earlier this year, the Comfort Inn and Suites and Hotel Victoria brought 125 rooms to the area.

According to research by the CVB, Victoria has experienced a growth of 46 percent from mid-2012 as 589 rooms were added to Victoria's hotels.

"I don't think people are having a hard time finding rooms," Roth said. "There are just so many options."

Mary Lou Wells, general manager at Hotel Victoria, said her rooms have been filled by oil-field workers and travelers. Her 57-room hotel is located on Houston Highway and is easily accessible to Loop 463.

"It varies depending on what they happen to be doing in the field," she said. "But we do get a lot of blue-collar workers here."

With two more hotels set to open soon, Roth said she would be surprised to see more hotels come in right away.

"There is no normal," Roth said. "The bottom line is that it's going to keep changing."